Server Installation

By “Company Server” we, and most people, mean on on-premises (on-site) physical server. These are normally, but not always, kept in a (lockable) Cabinet.

This solution is a physical on premises server which provides the IT facilities to your company.

This is one of the oldest solutions which people would be familiar with. (I.e. Press alt+ctrl+del to login).

Workstations (computers which are clients to the server), connect to the server through networking.

The server controls which users can log in, what they can access, what they can do, their email configuration (typically), stores the company files, stores and runs the company Intranet, stores and runs the company email solution (typically), backs up it’s data and generally controls the configuration and settings of all the attached workstations (computers).

Pros and Cons

Introducing the basics

Pros

It's yours

This may be a simple one, but an on-premises server is yours. You have your server(s), you have your data. It’s physical, you know where it is and you can see it, touch it, move it.

Flexible Finance

Having an on-premises Company Server can be more financially flexible than most people realise. They can be bought outright, financed, leased or even rented. Each option has it’s own merits e.g. outright owning adds to company assets (but is taxable). Leasing breaks payments down, isn’t taxable (but you don’t have ownership). They are also many more on-premises solutions and configurations for any financial requirement.

Cons

Fixed Hardware

Changes to on-premises physical servers normally require on-site configuration and/or hardware. Virtual and Cloud solutions don’t have this same requirement and their changes can be much, much faster than changes to on-premises company servers.

No automatic off-site backup

If you require an automatic offsite backup like on most Cloud solutions, you have to implement one in addition to your on-premises server. Your on-premises server may have physical backups – which you can take offsite – but it won’t normally come with an automatic offsite backup where the server can upload backups to.

Physical Location

An on-premises Company Server requires consideration as to it’s physical location. Factors which need to be considered are moisture, heat/cooling, security, stability, power, noise and more.